Week 3 – Christ our Savior – Part 2:
Wrath and Adoption
The Wrath of God
I have been involved in a number of confrontations with other men. Man more than woman, but not exclusively man, has a propensity to a particular form of anger. The scene can play out something like this: two people are having a conversation. Perhaps even a strong disagreement about something. As the two converse one party begins to intensify their tone. No longer a dialogue, that party begins to interrupt and begin forcefully driving the exchange. As the second party pushes back, after some time, the first party, angry at the lack of capitulation on the part of our second party, explodes with rage. Their face turns red, maybe they begin to shake. Their face without their knowledge expresses an absolute and indescribably hostility. They may begin yelling or worse. The effect on the second party is profound. They are, like it or not driven to fear. The firey rage of the first party may never play out, and rarely does, into violence. The effect of this rage is dehumanizing to the second party.
The epistle writers warn us of this anger. James tells us “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Anger implies that transgression has occurred. That a violation of some rule, boundary or parameter has occurred. It implies that justice is demanded for the violation. The problem with this anger as it is demonstrated in man is that it does not accomplish God's justice. When someone sins against another person, they have preeminently sinned against God. The party who's possession's have been stolen in robbery is the victim of the robbery. But it is God who's law: “Thou shalt not steal” has been violated. Man does not have the innate objectivity to pour out wrath on his fellow man. However, in certain cases, God grants authority among men, to accomplish some level of justice here on this earth.
This anger, the Bible calls wrath. The Bible warns us against such wrath within ourselves, yet clearly teaches that wrath, orders of magnitude greater than our impure and unrighteous “feeling” occurs with God. The word most often associated with the wrath of God occurs 33 times, in context, in the new testament, alone. God is righteous in His wrath towards man. His wrath sometimes occurs temporally. That is to say that it occurs partially in the here and now, as nations rise and fall; as wicked men suffer at times the consequence of their sin, for example.
The Psalmist describes God's wrath as being derisive, furious and terrifying in Psalms 2:4: “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury”. And again, speaking of Jesus in 2:12: “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.”
But the Bible says that God's wrath will occur ultimately and finally on the last day. When Jesus returns.
Of His anticipation of His role in judging the earth, Jesus says: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!” - Luke 12:49
Paul describes that day: “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints.” - 2 Thessalonians 1:18
Of those at the end, who will stand in the judgment for their wickedness, John in Revelation says: “he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night...” - 14:10
It is indeed true that we are rightly condemned before God, that is we stand correctly in a position of guilt. We spoke of this last week. There is nothing but condemnation for us sinners, unless God does something. Unless, the righteous wrath of God is satisfied and done away with, for us. We can never put away God's wrath. Because of our condition, because we are dead in our sins, we have no ability to put away His wrath. Another way to say it is that we have no way to pay for our crimes other than our own eternal damnation. We need Him to do it. We need Him to satisfy this wrath. In act of ultimate mercy, God must be the one that does away with His own wrath towards His people.
Jesus Drinks the Cup of Wrath - Propitiation
In the garden Jesus says: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” Luke 22:42. He knows that what He is about to face on the cross for His people, is the very wrath of God. Paul says in Romans 8:3 “By sending His own Son in the likeness of human flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.” As Jesus hangs on the cross He experiences that which we ultimately deserve from Him, the wrath, hostility and utter forsaking of God. He cries out “Eloi, Eloi lama zabachtani, that is: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” God in Jesus condemns sin, Paul says here in Romans 8. He pours out wrath without mercy on Jesus. Because that is what we deserve. Jesus endures the torment of the cross to satisfy the anger of the Triune God against man. Of Jesus, Paul says in Romans 3: “... whom God put forward as a propitiation, by His blood” In so saying Paul makes it clear that Jesus was God's satisfying sacrifice to put away His wrath. The word propitiation means to completely satisfy wrath.
Jesus took the cup of wrath and drank it to the bottom for His people. In so doing, the Father condemns sin IN Jesus flesh. He pours out ultimate wrath and fury.
There is therefore no more condemnation, for those who are in Christ Jesus. - Romans 8:1
A New Relationship – Covenant Adoption
Many, speak rightly of having a relationship with God through Jesus. However, it is perhaps wrong to say that those who aren't in Christ, have no relationship with God. We are indeed as Ruth was, outside of the grace covenant relationship with God. We were in an adversarial relationship with God. He was our enemy. Just as the gentiles in the story of Ruth were not at peace with God. So too, we were under the condemnation of God and had, whether we knew it or not, a terrible expectation of judgment.
John in his first epistle writes: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” - 1 John 4:10
But then as an expression of God's love towards His people, He sends Jesus to pay the full and complete price of the sins of His people.
The ramifications of this are huge. If God does away with His wrath for you then what is the relationship? The relationship can't remain the same. There is no neutral relationship with God. You are either “For Him or you are against Him” as Jesus says in Matthew 12:20. So again, what if God in His love for you takes away His wrath? What remains? We were outside of the family, then the hostility and separation were done away with. The division was removed and we were brought within the covenant confines of the family of God. The most beautiful picture we have for this is adoption. So this is how Paul describes this new relationship. He says to us, Romans 8:15, that we have received the Spirit of adoption.
But we have to go back though, and see as Paul describes what it was to have “the spirit of slavery”, before we can understand the Spirit of Adoption. Paul describes the relationship that we with the old covenant Law as the Law of sin and death (8:2). The law, puts us to death, because we are sinful. It is the debt that we owe, that prevents us from paying this penalty. Slavery in ancient Jewish times, was most often a relationship defined by debt. You were bound to your debtor. If the debt became so large, that there was no way to pay it. Or the owner of the debt demanded an immediate resolution, then all that one had to pay was themselves. Paul's readers understood this. Slaves were most often slaves because of the debt that they owed and not slaves because they were products of conquest and war. Unlike the slaves in our history, they were not stolen from their homes. But their debt defined the slave relationship. This is the slavery that Paul refers to. Our relation to the law is as debtors. We can't escape it. Then Jesus, hangs on the cross and as He prepares to draw His last breath He says: “It is finished”. And so as the Jews who, under debt would sit by the side of the road with signs pleading for someone to pay their debt, Jesus used the same very words that one who had in mercy, paid the debt of one of these slaves would write on their sign: “It is paid in full”.
So we've seen the contrast of the law of sin and death. And that the very breath we breathed was in bondage, and that Jesus came in perfect mercy and love and paid the debt for us. It's now our sweet joy to look on the relationship which took its place.
It is an adoptive relationship. The slave has no rights and no inheritance in the house of the Master. Yet, the son belongs in the home of the Father. Now to verse 15: The child finds his natural place with the Father and in ultimate need he cries out, not to the Master, but he uses the most affectionate term that a Jewish child could ever use of his Father: Abba... daddy... pappa. This word means to cry out, the same word in Matthew 14:30 as Peter is walking on the water, sees the wind and begins to sink. And he cries out: “Lord save me”. So too, we cry out. And Paul says that His response through the Holy Spirit's proclaiming to our spirit is: “that we are children of God”.
Do you ever feel like you aren't His child? Does life ever overtake you, with work, concerns, pains, struggles, sin? Do your failings in your battle against the flesh ever leave you wondering: “am I His?” Let this word speak deeply to your spirit today. Let it become a part of who you are. He proclaims to you from this word, that you are His child. I don't know what your struggle or battle is today, but let His word go deep so that you know that you are an adopted child. Once an enemy and now beloved child of God. Without being irreverent or trite, He is your daddy. What grace this is.
Covenant Blessing
The covenant relationship, is not simply an external relationship in which we remain given over to our former ways. We were Hostile to God (7) and we didn't, couldn't and refused to submit to God's law. “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it doesn't submit to God's law, indeed it cannot.”
The covenant blessing becomes real and tangible in that Jesus has sent His Spirit to dwell in us (9). In fact, there is no covenant adoption, no relationship if the Spirit doesn't dwell in us. Apart from the empowering work of the Spirit we have no capacity to place our minds and our affections on the things of the Spirit: On Jesus our Savior, our Sanctifier, Healer and King. The Holy Spirit being made to live in us, is a key gift of Jesus' covenant grace to us. It is He, the Spirit, that convicts us of unrighteousness and empowers us to put the flesh to death. To see our sin as sinful, to desire to please the Father and the ability to say no to sin and to resist temptation. We've all hopefully experienced the sweet convicting work of the Spirit and His empowering and leading work as He guides us and disciplines us and strengthens us to glorify God.
It is He, who grants us, real tangible life (6). It is He, who will one day resurrect us, just as He did Jesus: “ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (11)
Paul continues in (17): “If children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him” The covenant that He has given you makes you a full child. Entitled to the inheritance that Christ earned. Oh what a wonderful older brother that we have. The firstborn from the dead. And as He was resurrected out of the tomb, we catch the most brilliant glance of the glory which is ours in the beloved. When we the resurrected Jesus, we see the inheritance beginning to take shape.
Three weeks from now, we'll come briefly back to these same verses and speak of Jesus restoration on that final day. But today we'll see that this covenant of adoption that He has given you is actually the beginnings of the very relationship which one day will be made complete in the resurrection: “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Verse 23. This adoption though real, though permanent, is not yet complete. How is this so?
First, in that we haven't been resurrected. We remain in these seed like jars of clay, for a time. Verse 10: “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” There remains in us a battle with the flesh. If this weren't so, Paul would not say: “but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (13) So we look to the hope of the resurrection, that one day this battle will end and Christ will be the victor through the Spirit, in transforming us.
Secondly, in suffering. If the curse that fell on Adam, brought death and sin into the kingdom of man. Than likewise the man Jesus, who stood up mid stream, and with perfect obedience, suffered all of the consequence of Adams sin. Than we also can expect the same as take up His cross. We will indeed suffer, the natural sufferings that one would expect in a fallen and sinful world. But more importantly, as we are children of the God that this world hates and rejects, we too will be hated and rejected. Not for being obnoxious, not for insisting on unbiblical things. Not for isolating ourselves from our fellow brothers in Adam. But for proclaiming both a rightful wrath from God against sinful flesh and a mercy which demands an admission of guilt and which demanded a sacrifice of ultimate price.
Paul knows that suffering would span the entire age between his writing and our time. And he knows that because of the flesh which remains and the volume of the suffering that at times these things would prevent us from seeing the depth of the love of Christ for us in our adoption, in the putting away of wrath. It would at times lead us to doubt His love for us. And even, as horrible as it sounds, to wonder if He had abandoned us, in our suffering and in our sin. So he exhorts us to see the nature of our relationship as being ultimately strong and indefeatable. He wants us to see the rigor of Christs love for us. We need to be reminded of His love daily. If we are cold, if we are dry, if we hunger for God, if we are hardened, this is where we are to come. To be reminded of our adoption as children of the Father.
An Undying and Unbreakable Love and Covenant
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (29)
Paul's reasoning here is this, if the very judge of all things the one who will, in righteousness judge the entire world, is the very one that predestined you for salvation; called you to Himself; made you right with Himself and gave you the hope of Glory, then who remains to judge you? Then who is that is of any consequence who could impact this grace?
In fact, this Judge now makes intercession for you at the right hand of the Father. He is not your judge, but your Savior.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:38
